Shawn Mendes’ Secret Struggle With Anxiety Inspired ‘In My Blood’

Following the release of his rock-influenced new single, "In My Blood," the 19-year-old singer opened up about the inspiration behind the track, telling Beats 1's Zane Lowe he wrote it about the anxiety he started feeling post-fame.

"It was kind of something that hit me last year," he explained. "Growing up, I was a pretty calm kid. I knew people who suffered from anxiety, found it kind of hard to understand, and then when it hits you, you’re like, 'Oh my god, this is crazy.'"

Now, Mendes says, he's doing all right. "When I play that song, I go 'Just so you know I’m okay,'" he continued. "The best thing about it is that it’s not all down. The whole reason I wrote the song was to be like, at the very end, ‘It’s not in my blood to do that.'"

Mendes first rose to prominence on the now-defunct video-sharing platform, Vine, going on to release his debut album, Handwritten, in 2015. The record's lead single, "Stitches," nabbed Mendes his first Top 10 hit, propelling him from social media standout to bona fide star. He's since repeated the feat with "Treat You Better" and "There's Nothin Holdin' Me Back," both from 2016's Illuminate.

"I walked in and I was like, the only way we’re going to step up — regardless of my singing or the ways the melodies are or production — the only way things are going to get better is if it’s more honest," Mendes told Lowe. "And that’s why I started with the whole, ‘laying on the bathroom floor.’ Like, how raw can we get? And let’s work back from there.”

"In My Blood," released Thursday (March 22), is the first song to come from Mende's forthcoming third album. He returned with a second single, "Lost In Japan," late Thursday night.